Overheated
by BabeGirl
Summary: Steph is feeling the heat and looking for relief.


First, I have to apologize. I haven't updated any of my stories in an insanely long time. A very important person in my life passed away almost 18 months ago, and I haven't been able to write a word since. This story is my first attempt to pick up the proverbial pen in almost that long. As soon as I decided to attempt the writing again, my computer died on me. I am finally back up and running, and I hope to update my other stories as soon as possible.

This is based on a sort of true story, but without Ranger. It was, therefore, much less exciting for me then the lovely Stephanie.

This is ridiculous, I thought myself as I kicked the covers further down my bed. It was past two in the morning, and I was lying wide awake on my bed.

Trenton was facing the worst heat wave it had seen since before I was born. The mercury had hit almost 120 degrees, a little higher with the humidity. Walking around outside was like standing in a sauna. My hair had hit maximum volume before 10 AM, and catching skips has been absolute torture. No one was making it to court because it meant risking leaving their air conditioned houses.

I had a giant stack of files handed to me by Connie early this morning, and when I finally packed it in and called it a day just after noon, the pages had begun to curl and fold because of the moisture in the air. As it was, the folders were now sitting on my kitchen counter under heavy guard. Or as heavy a guard as my hamster, Rex, provided.

When the sun finally dipped below the horizon, the temperature slipped to a chilly one hundred and five degrees.

Usually, when summer rolled around I could get by with leaving my window open at night and letting in the breeze made it cool enough to sleep. However, with the skips I was picking up becoming increasingly lucrative (and insane) I would rather have some level of security than a cool bedroom.

The air conditioner I had installed in my window last summer had crapped out in early May, and the fan I had in the corner of my bedroom was just stirring up the hot air. I was finding no relief.

What's worse, I had caught a nasty summer flu from a particularly creative and icky skip. Michael Houston had been arrested for holding up a Starbucks. I get that they sell seven dollar coffees, but I didn't think that robbing a Starbucks was the best choice. But who am I to judge?

When I went to pick Houston up from his house, he was lying on his sofa, wrapped up in a huge quilt. After some fever induced ramblings, I figured out that he had caught the flu from his son, whom he sees on Monday, Wednesdays and every other weekend. I felt bad for him, but I was desperate for the eight hundred bucks his capture would bring me.

When I tried to help him off the sofa, Houston started freaking out, yelling about how I had been sent by the government to take away his alien friend. I was blaming the paranoia on the high fever, and on him watching ET, which was playing on cable the night before. At least that was my assumption.

Houston thought that the best way to get the evil government agent, me, to leave him alone would be to lick my cheek and sneeze in my face.

It may have been an accident, but I doubt it. Smart people would have dropped Houston like a hot potato, but no one has ever accused me of being smart. I just sucked in a deep breath, whipped my stun gun out of my back pocket, and sent a gentle jolt though his arm. I felt some of the residual shock from where I held Houston's wrist in a firm grip, and I had to sit for a minute before dragging him off to the cop shop.

Anyway, here I was, two days later and I could feel the flu creeping up on me. My back and legs were starting to ache, and my forehead was starting to warm. Between the fever that was increasing by the hour, and my apartment that was like a sweat lodge, I was bordering on blacking out from the heat. I had to figure out a way to cool myself off or there was a good chance I would die from overheating like my last POS car.

I laid spread-eagle on my back, staring through the darkness at my ceiling, considering my options.

Joe's house was out. Two weeks ago, we had the mother of all fights. I had caught him coming out of a seedy bar in the middle of the day with Terry Gilman, his hand firmly planted on her ass. He met me at my apartment later that evening, and the walls had started shaking. Not in the good way.

Accusations had been thrown around about him and Terry, and me and Ranger, most of which were untrue. Names had been called and screamed, and arms were flailing. When a crystal vase (who knew I owned that?) had shattered dangerously close to my head, I hauled the gun out of my cookie jar and shot a round into the wall behind Joe.

The silence was deafening after the shot. Or maybe I was slightly deaf from the shot. Either way.

Joe had tossed my key in my general direction and stormed out of my apartment. I spent the next two hours at Mary Lou's house having tiny bits of crystal picked out of my hair with tweezers, creatively cursing the very name that was Joseph Anthony Morelli. Morelli and I hadn't spoken since, and I doubted we would any time soon.

His lovely air conditioned row house was definitely not an option.

My parents house was out too. Somehow, by a rare stroke of luck, my mother had yet to hear about the blowout through the Burg grapevine. She thought that I was still on the blissful road to matrimony with Morelli, and as long as it stayed that way, I didn't have to hear her wailing and complaining.

Plus, if I went home showing signs of being sick in any way, I wouldn't be permitted to leave for days. No way was I letting that happen.

Mary Lou's two boys were home for the summer. They were sweet kids, and I knew that she would more than happily let me crash for the night. I didn't want to infect her or the kids though. That would make her life a living hell.

I heaved a sigh. I only had one option. Ranger's penthouse at Haywood. I still had my key fob, and I knew via Tank that Ranger was out of town visiting the satellite offices of RangeMan for another several days. The last time I had seen Ranger was burned in my mind.

Ranger had stopped by before he left, just days after the Morelli debacle. He found me picking lo mein out of my hair after bringing down a skip I had tailed to a P.F. Chang's in Princeton. Story of my life. Ranger had shuffled me off to a hot shower, pulling a bottle of Bvlgari out of his duffel bag and handing it to me. I came out a half hour later, squeaky clean and feeling much less like taking a long walk off a short pier. I found that Ranger had ordered me a steak dinner, complete with wine. He handed me a glass, set me up on the sofa snuggled in a robe under a quilt, and had found DVD sets of my new TV obsession.

Ranger sat with me while I ate, explaining that he would be out of town, but not out of touch. He was going on yearly inspections of his other offices, and he wasn't sure how long he would be gone. It depended on if any problems came up that needed his attention. He hoped to spend just a week at each office before coming home. I asked questions about the other offices and the people that worked there, and Ranger actually answered them, adding funny anecdotes that had my wine very nearly exiting my nose on several occasions.

I finished eating and curled up under Rangers arm, and we focused on the TV. Ranger and I snuggled on the couch for almost an hour before he told me he had to go or miss his flight. I felt like we had spent the night acting almost like a couple, and with Joe out of my life, I admitted to myself that I had really liked it. Following Ranger to the door, I detoured to grab his shower gel out of my bathroom.

"Keep it, Babe. Plenty more where that came from. You must be running low." He smiled down at me. I felt warmth creep up from my toes and a smile stretch across my face. The last bottle I had pilfered, albeit not as secretly as I had thought, was almost empty. How he knew that, I had no idea, but the idea that he knew little details like that about me made my tummy flip-flop.

Joe only noticed things about me if I was naked, or if there was a chance of me getting naked.

I shuffled my feet a bit and looked at my toes. "This is going to sound dumb, but I'm really going to miss you while you're gone."

It wasn't like I saw Ranger every day, but I liked knowing that he was around. I sometimes would catch up with him at the bonds office, or see his Porsche cruising away from the police station. Having him around town made me feel safe, and like everything was...right.

Ranger tucked a finger under my chin, and tilted my head up until I was forced to meet his eyes. He searched my eyes for a moment, and seemingly pleased with what he saw, leaned down and brushed his lips across my own. It was a feather-light kiss, unlike any that we had shared before, but it made the breath rush from my body and my knees go weak.

"I'll miss you too, Babe. I'll call when I can, and feel free to call me anytime. This isn't some government mission that will keep me in the wind. Anything you need let me know. Even if you just need to talk or vent."

I ran my fingers through his hair, and watched the light in his eyes go wild. I tugged his face to my own and plastered myself against him. Several heated and heady kisses later, Ranger pulled himself away.

"Dios, Babe. I have to go!" Ranger chuckled at our absolute lack of restraint. He pressed a kiss against my forehead, and left one lingering on my lips, before strolling down the hallway.

That was almost two weeks ago. We had talked several times since then, and I felt more and more comfortable with Ranger after each conversation. But how that I really needed something, I didn't want to call and ask for it.

It wasn't that I didn't want to spend the night at Rangers apartment. It was just that I didn't want to be there alone. I had commandeered his apartment several times before when I needed a safe place to hide out. However, Ranger and I weren't...whatever we were now back then. I felt like his apartment would feel somehow empty without him there this time

Plus, based on past experience, I figured that if Ranger heard that I was sick, and getting sicker, he would cut his trip short and come home. Then he would have to go back to finish and catch up on what he put off. As needy as it sounds, I didn't want him to get home and leave right away. I wanted time to explore our developing relationship.

I suppose I could just stay here. I struggled out of bed, feeling like my legs could collapse under me at any moment, and wandered towards my bathroom. I sat heavily on the edge of my tub, and flipped the water to a cool setting. It started to steam against the heat in the room, but when i tested the flow with my hand, it was lukewarm. I grumbled under my breath. Perfect.

Alright fine. I can take a hint.

Flicking the tap off, I hobbled out to the living room. Shoving my feet into a pair of flip flops and grabbing my keys, I locked up my front door and made my way to the crappy Honda Civic I had got for under $500 from Leone, a used car salesman that I was somehow distantly related too.

I figured I would spend tonight a Ranger's, let my fever break, and be home before he knew any different. Good plan, Steph! I pointed my car towards Haywood, cranking my A/C to fight the heat.

The Rangeman office building was a non-discript brick building. I fobbed my way through the gate for the underground garage and slid into one of Ranger's personal parking spots. I stepped out of the car and had to grab the roof of my car because the cavernous room started spinning. I shut my eyes and took several deep breaths, resting my forehead against my hand.

Jeez. The skin practically melted off my hand at the contact.

Taking a final breath, I experimentally opened my eyes. Not spinning. Good.

I shuffled over to the elevator and stabbed the call button with my finger. I was squinting against the fluorescent lights, because my head was suddenly pounding. Finally, the elevator doors opened and I fobbed my way up to Ranger's apartment.

I had been in Ranger's apartment enough times to know the basic layout, so I opted to not turn on any of the lights as I headed toward the bathroom. On the way, I found the climate controls and cranked the air conditioning. Just the effort of making it to the apartment had me sweating.

I stripped out of my clothes on the way to the shower, and by the time I stepped into the stall I was totally naked. I desperately tried to rinse the dry sweat and grime off my body, but my arms and back were aching so badly that I couldn't even lift the loofah off the shelf. I ended up just sitting on the bench that ran along the back of the shower, watching the water run down the drain.

I could feel my eyelids start to droop, and I figured falling asleep in the shower and drowning wouldn't be the best way to end the day, so I struggled to my feet and out of the shower. I half-heartedly wrapped a towel around myself, and leaned against the vanity.

I looked out the bathroom door towards the bed and thought it was way further then I remembered. Maybe I could just rest on the floor here for a second, and then make my way to the bed. I dropped to my knees on the plushy bathmat and curled up. Nope, still too warm. I rested one of my arms against the tile floor, hoping that would give me some relief. It didn't. Finally, I just tossed the towel away from my body and flattened my body fully against the tile floor.

Ahhhhhh. I was at more comfortable then I had been in almost two days, and I finally slipped into sleep.

"Babe." The sound of my name dragged me out of my slumber. I rolled over, cringing as the cold time hit my back. I was shaking. Probably falling asleep on a floor with no clothes and wet hair was a bad idea. But I was already sick, so what was the difference?

Despite my teeth chattering , I heard a "Babe" again, and cracked my eyes open. Ranger's face swam into focus from where he was leaning against the door frame.

"Why are you sleeping naked on my bathroom floor? Not that I'm complaining." A small grin slipped across his lips.

I tried to explain the situation, but my mouth wouldn't co-operate. All that came out was incoherent mumbles. Ranger looked immediately concerned. He stepped to my side and crouched by my head. Placing a hand on my forehead and looking in my eyes, Ranger just frowned and reached into a cabinet, pulling out a thermometer and slipping it under my tongue.

"Got a fever there, Babe. Between that and the heat out, you must not be feeling too great." It wasn't a question, but I shook my head anyway.

Pulling the thermometer out of my mouth, Ranger frowned again. "101.2. Not good, Babe." He stood up and walked over to the shower to turn it off. Huh. Guess I forgot that earlier. He turned back to me, but all I saw was the room spinning.

"Do you think you can make it to the bed or do you need me to…" My eyes shut again, and I never heard the end of his sentence.

When I woke up again, I was curled up in Ranger's bed. Alone. I remembered trying to sleep at my apartment and then...nothing. How did I get here? When did I get here?

"Sleeping Beauty finally awakes." I jumped at the sound of Rangers voice from behind me. I tried to turn over quickly, but I misjudged the amount of space I had behind me on the bed and ended up flat on my ass on the floor. Graceful.

Ranger helped me off the floor and back onto the bed. "How did I get here? The last thing I remember, I was at my apartment."

"Tank called me two and a half days ago when you popped up on the security camera stumbling through the garage. He thought you were a little tipsy, but when you didn't leave in the morning, and you weren't answering your cell phone, he got worried and called me again. And again. And again until I came back. I found you passed out naked on the bathroom floor, running a high fever. You've been in and out of consciousness since then, and I was fighting to keep your fever under control until it broke late last night. Or early this morning, depending on how you look at it."

I blinked at Ranger when he stopped speaking. He just rambled through that speech, and it was the most I had ever heard him say at one time.

Two days? I've been here for two days? How is that even possible? To say I was confused was an understatement.

"You've been taking care of me for two days? What about the yearly office reviews?" I felt really bad for pulling Ranger away from his work. I vaguely recalled worrying about just that somewhere in my feverish haze, but I couldn't pin the thought down.

"Steph, I couldn't care less about the office review right now. Why didn't you call and tell me you were sick? I had Bobby check you out when you were sleeping and he told me that you were severely dehydrated and if you're fever spiked anymore, you could have suffered brain damage or worse. You could have died, Steph."

I could have what? It was just the flu.

Ranger was up and pacing around the room. "You could have died lying on my bathroom floor, and you think I care about the office reviews? Christ, Stephanie."

Okay, Ranger was angry, but I wasn't sure why. Plus, my head still hurt from my being sick, and his yelling wasn't helping.

"Ranger, can you please sit down? You are making me dizzy." He dropped onto the edge of the mattress. "Thank you."

We both sat there in silence for a long moment. I readjusted myself to sit propped up against the stack of pillows and stared at Ranger's ponytail until my intensely withering stare (ha!) made him turn to look at me.

"Are you going to tell me why you are so angry, or are we going to continue the worst staring contest in the history of the world? A simple explanation would be nice, because I have a headache."

Two aspirin instantly appeared in my hand, and I tossed them back with a swig of water.

"I don't know why I am so angry." Good start, Ranger. "I think I am frustrated."

Terrible explanation. I just waited for him to continue talking.

"You were sick, really sick, and I wasn't here. You had no where else to go, so you came here where you should be safe and you almost died. I should have been here for you."

"Ranger, you were working. I didn't know I was going to be sick when you left. Its just more of my stupid bad luck." I couldn't believe that Ranger was blaming himself for this.

"But…" Stupid man!

"No, Ranger. You're acting dumb. You were doing your job! This is your company, and you have responsibilities. Would I have liked it better if you were here? Probably, but that's true as a general rule. Would it have changed the fact that I got sick? No. You might be my own personal superhero, but even you can't stop the flu."

Ranger had his arms crossed across his chest, and his bottom lip was poking out slightly. He looked like a petulant child that was being scolded, but he wasn't responding to me.

I crawled across the covers until I was kneeling at his side and tugged on his wrists until he loosened his arms and allowed me to situate myself on his lap. He secured his arms around my waist before finally looking me in the face.

"I love that you want to take care of me. Joe hated when I was sick, because I wouldn't have sex with him." Ass.

"Joe's an ass." Damn ESP.

"This is true, and I will never argue that point." That only got me a small grin, but it was a start. "I came here because it reminds me of you, and because you always make me feel better, even if you aren't here. I'm sorry I didn't call you before coming over, but I didn't want you to worry or to cut your trip short. I honestly thought it was just the flu and I would be better before you got back."

Ranger sighed. "Babe, If you had called me, I would have had Bobby check you out sooner. I love you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Awwww. "I love you, too. And I'm sorry. This whole thing just got really screwed up."

We shared a gentle kiss, neither of us pressing for more, content to just hold each other. I finally sent Ranger off for a shower while I grabbed a light snack in the kitchen. I hadn't eaten in days, and I was finally feeling it.

I was remaking the bed when Ranger walked out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel slung low around his hips. My heart thumped hard in my chest, and heat pooled low in my belly. I caught Ranger's eye, and my thoughts must have been clear on my face, because he lost the towel, tossed me on the bed and kept me warm and toasty for the next several hours.

Two days later, I woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, but it wasn't my own. I rolled over under Ranger's arm that was resting across my waist and placed my hand on his forehead. I snatched it away just as fast, because of the heat radiating from his skin.

Oh no. I thought. I guess I'm not the one who is over heated this time. Ranger groaned in his sleep and shuddered. I went to the bathroom to wet a washcloth.

Time to return the favour...


End file.
